Category: Comics

This trade collects Rat Queens #6-10. There are a lot of layered story threads in Rat Queens. Best to start at the beginning.

Continues the momentum built up in volume 1 without missing a beat. There’s a lot of background on the leads here, always relevant to their current character and personality as well as to the ongoing story. Stjephan Sejic joins the art team, and his work is just as perfect for the book as Upchruch’s.

The plot pays off some ongoing threads while introducing more (including a big cliffhanger for next volume). However as good as the general story is, the true highlights of Rat Queens are its characters and their development. Despite how awsome everyone is I am developing favorites: Hannah’s proving to be the surprisingly deep enigma I was hoping for, and everything Betty does sends me into a laughing fit. That said I could keep going with similar compliments for just about every single character. The cast is that good.

More great stuff. Can’t wait for volume 3.

“Did you seriously pack candy and drugs for dinner?”

This trade collects Rat Queens #1-5.

This volume’s subtitle, “Sass and Sorcery,” is as good a summation of Rat Queens as there is. Wiebe’s cast is three-dimensional, relatable, and diverse in appearance, attitude, and actions. Upchurch’s art is a perfect match, bring everything to life in an appropriate and powerful way.

The comic is violent and vulgar, but it seems right for the characters and situations. The Queens are the toughest group of women I’ve ever read about, without being “Mary Sues.” They’re far from perfect, and aren’t entirely good either, but are incredibly likable because they feel real and charming and it’s impossible not to cheer for them. Put such a strong set of main characters into an equally interesting take on some sword and sorcery cliches turned on their heads and it all adds up to a magical, fun read.

Every bit as impressive and awesome as I’d heard, Rat Queen is a must read for fans of the fantasy genre who can handle an in-your-face approach to the material and its “booze guzzling, death dealing battle maidens-for-hire” protagonists.

This trade collects ODY-C #1-5.

The Odyssey in space in a universe where nearly all the people and Gods are women. Sounds much more interesting in premise than it ended up in execution. Fraction’s re-imaginings of Greek myth and parts of Odysseus’s journey are brilliant, but suffer under too grand and abstract a vision. The comic isn’t particularly cohesive and it’s often unclear how the scheming of various Gods behind the scenes is affecting the main(?) story of Odyssia’s trip home.

Odyssia herself doesn’t connect with the reader well, and other than being told she’s a hero I’m not sure why we’re supposed to be cheering for her successful return (especially since we’re also told she might or might not even want to go home in the first place).

I found the art extremely variable. Like the story I think it tries to hard to be abstract, leading to muddled coloring and hard to follow sequences. On the other hand some pages and panels are truly beautiful, capturing the trippy and alien feel they seemed to be going for.

ODY-C is a comic I expected to, and wished, I liked more than I did. As a huge fan of both Greek mythology and science fiction this comic seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately I don’t think it worked well nor achieved even close to its full potential.

This trade collects Jupiter’s Legacy #1-5.

Disillusioned and reeling from the 1929 stock market collapse, Sheldon Sampson follows strange dreams he’s been having to an island where he and his companions are given superpowers. These heroes and their children could shape the world …

There’s been a lot of criticism about the derivative and cliched nature of many of the themes and plot points here, but the quality of stories always primarily depends on what’s done with the ideas it uses. I think it’s all blended wonderfully in Jupiter’s Legacy and it doesn’t bother me in the least that I’ve seen some elements before.

The execution isn’t entirely perfect. In refusing to shy away from graphical depictions of violence Millar and Quitely go over the top a couple times to the point it breaks the immersion. The ideological differences of certain characters would have been much more interesting with a few small changes  and some more shades of gray worked in.

But Jupiter’s Legacy is excellent as it is. This exploration of power and the long reaching consequences of the associated choices could become a classic depending on what the rest of the series brings.

“As debuts go, it was a complete disaster.”

Roscoe is a low level drug dealer in Detroit aiming for better than his current situation. He may have his chance when exposed to a drug called MPH which bestows him with superhuman speed.

Interesting mixed bag here. Millar provides an intriguing tale of sudden opportunity against a backdrop of political and social commentary that somehow both leaves a couple nagging questions and wraps up the main plot point almost too tidily. The plot turns include the fantastical and the predictable, but all fit well enough to keep the story moving well.

The art is good but the faces of the characters don’t look consistent to me from scene to scene, which is rather distracting.

I feel like there was a significant amount more potential for the concept of super-speed pills than what Millar chose to do here, but there’s nothing wrong per se with the direction he chose or his execution.

Decent enough overall.